When older films are added to streaming platforms, the phrase ‘it was a different time’ can be quite often evoked.
Whether it be classic films that seemingly haven’t aged well for a number of reasons, older films can be dicey at times.
Recently, Netflix added a horror film made just 30 years ago that features an 11-year-old Kirsten Dunst kissing Brad Pitt, who was 31 at the time.
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This took place in Interview with the Vampire, the 1994 film also starring Tom Cruise, Christian Slater, Thandiwe Newton, and Antonio Banderas.
Widely regarded as a cult classic gothic horror, the film focuses on how Tom Cruise’s character, Lestat, turns Pitt’s Louis into a vampire.
He does this after Louis loses his will to live due to his wife and child dying – leading Lestat to then turn a child into a vampire to act as Louis’ daughter.
This child, Claudia, is played by Dunst.
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Regarding the kiss scene, she spoke about it in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2021, saying: “That was the worst thing I did and also having obviously to kiss Brad Pitt at that point.
“I was a little girl and he was like a brother to me and it was very weird even though it was a peck. I was very not into it.”
This was not just something that in retrospect either as she said she'd expressed discomfort at the time and made a complaint during filming - with another complaint being that she had to bite the neck of a sweaty extra.
She'd also spoken about it to Entertainment Weekly, telling the outlet: “‘I hated [the kiss] so much because Brad was like my older brother on set and it's kind of like kissing your brother.
“It's weird because he's an older guy and I had to kiss him on the lips, so it was gross.”
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Despite this, she still has positive memories of her on-set experience, stating that Cruise and Pitt looked after her on set.
In an interview with The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert, she said of the experience: “I feel like I watched Brad in A River Runs Through and Tom was in Far and Away, which I loved.
“They treated me like a little sister. It was very sweet, I was a very innocent 12-year-old. I was just doing my job and they were very sweet to me.”
She also stated that they treated her ‘like a princess’.
Interview with a Vampire is now available to watch on Netflix in the UK and Ireland.
Topics: Brad Pitt, Netflix, Film, TV and Film
Michael Slavin